


The Business of Lies and Fairytales

by unwindmyself



Category: Dollhouse, Mad Men
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-11-28 14:43:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scenes from the New York Dollhouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“The lab is through here,” Joan explains.  “R&D over here, machines through there…”

“I’ll be working most with Mr. Draper, right?” Peggy asks.

“Please,” Joan laughs.  “First names, sweetheart.”

Peggy makes a face.  “ _Sweetheart_?”

“I call everyone by endearments,” Joan says.

“Well, okay,” Peggy shrugs.  “Hm.  Is – Don nice?  As a boss, or…?”

“Don is – a very decent man, somewhere,” Joan shrugs.  “He’s not perfect, but there are worse.”

“Nobody is perfect,” Peggy mutters.

“He contracts,” Joan cautions.  “Pretend you don’t know.”

“Do a lot of the employees?” Peggy asks.

“More than admit it,” Joan says.  “Fewer than need it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charming -> Pete  
> Philip -> Ken  
> Snow White -> Trudy

It’s art class, and some of the Dolls are gathered around, painting contentedly.

Charming glances over at his friends on either side of him: Philip is painting some fish, Snow White’s is a house.

“It’s nice,” Charming tells Philip, almost enviously.

“Yours is pretty, too,” Snow pipes up.  She likes Charming.

“Philip, it’s time for a treatment,” says his handler, Salvatore, touching his shoulder and leading him away.

Charming watches them leave, then turns his gaze back to Philip’s painting.

“Don’t be sad,” Snow says.  “You do your best.”

“I try,” Charming says.  It would sound sad if it could.


	3. Chapter 3

When he gets to the lab, Sally’s on the couch, textbook in her lap.  “Hi, Daddy,” she chirps.

“Did Joan bring you down?” Don asks. 

“Uh-huh,” Sally smiles.  “My after school club got cancelled.  Are there any prints I can sit in on?”

Don tries not to make a face.  A part of him wishes she could grow up without this, but it’s impossible.  “Ariel is going in at four,” he tells her.  “If you want to watch.” 

She’s allowed in for every one of them but Aurora.

“Can I see the design?” she asks.

A sigh and nod.  “C’mere.”


	4. Chapter 4

“I don’t agree with this,” Bennett mutters, filling out the paperwork.

“It’s not your place to,” Lipman shrugs.  “You know that.”

“I know that we give people what they want, _for a while_ ,” Bennett says.

“We do what we’re told,” Lipman amends.  “And we don’t ask questions.”

_She_ does as she’s told especially, she’s in no place to argue, is the implication.  It’s never said, but she knows. 

So she sets her jaw.  She signs the release papers.  She walks into the lab and sets the print up.

Just like that, Demeter is gone and Jane Siegel Sterling is born.


	5. Chapter 5

“What’s the agenda for today?” Peggy asks.

“There’s a doctor who’s called for Cinderella as a socialite dream date,” Don says.  “You can handle that.”

“What are you doing, then?” Peggy mutters.

“Philip is infiltrating a law office.”

 _So you get to set up the spy game, and I get Trophy Girlfriend Barbie_ , Peggy thinks.

What she says is, “Fine.  Give me the parameters.”

Don nods his head.  “It’s good practice, you know,” he tells her archly. 

“I know,” Peggy chirps, smiling brightly.  _And I could practice with the other, too,_ she thinks.

“Sooner the better,” Don says.  “I’m expecting quality.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Is Sterling always so unprofessional?” Joyce asks.

Peggy rolls her eyes.  “He’s an ass, but he’s a legacy.  That’s how this place works.”

“That’s bullshit,” Joyce mutters.

“All of it is,” Peggy agrees.  “Your girl okay?”

“You’d know as well as me,” Joyce shrugs.

“Don doesn’t let me run Belle’s wipes,” Peggy explains, raising her eyebrows knowingly. 

“Of course,” Joyce grumbles.  She doesn’t approve of the arrangement, but it’s not her place to say.  “She’s fine, yes.”

“You ever consider it?” Peggy murmurs.  “Contracting.”

Joyce shakes her head.  “I couldn’t,” she says.  “Not my style, the concept or the girls.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Do we get Megan tonight?” Sally asks.

“I don’t know, Sal,” Don says.  “It’s been a busy week for all of us.  Belle, too.”

“You _said_ ,” Sally insists.  “And she won’t be tired.”

Don frowns.  Her cavalier attitude alarms him sometimes.  “Do you need Megan tonight?”

Sally raises her eyebrow.  “ _You_ need Megan tonight.”

As always, she’s right; he’s not embarrassed about using Dolls, but he’s embarrassed that she sees he needs to.

“And I could use some girl advice,” she adds, softening things somewhat.

“Don’t you have schoolfriends to visit?” he asks.

“Not ones that interest me,” Sally chirps.


	8. Chapter 8

The phone rings.  “ _Where are you_?” Peggy hisses.

“Upstate,” Don says.  “Something happened, Belle –”

He stops himself.  Why would he be upstate with Belle?  With any Doll?

“Joyce lost her,” Don attempts.  “We’re tracking her.”

“Why does she need your help?” Peggy asks innocently.

“Don’t play,” he mutters.

“I just want you to say it.”

“Belle was with me.  There.  Are you happy?”

Peggy sighs.  Happiness wasn’t really the point.  “You want me to pull up her GPS link?”

“It’s fine,” Don says.  “I have it up in the van.  I was just checking in.”

Another sigh.  “You’ve checked.”


End file.
